The End of Durmstrang and What Happened After
by the muggle marauder
Summary: Voldy attacks, Durmstrang closes. Marilyn goes to Hogwarts and meets the Marauders. Things are improving when Harry comes back in time and asks for help in finding Sirius, saying Padfoot in the Marauders' Map can find him. R&R please!
1. The Closing of Durmstrang

CHAPTER ONE – THE CLOSING OF DURMSTRANG 

A/N: Yay I have a plot! It used to be pointless, before I decided to add a prologue.

**Warning – I'm writing a story (non-fanfiction) in first person and present tense, so if I slip that's why. I've done it a lot so far but I'm trying to catch my mistakes.**

_Disclaimer: HP belongs to J.K. Rowling; I hope you all know that without me telling you._

It was the last night of the school year. The next morning everyone would go home for the summer. Marilyn Eastrin was in the Dining Hall at Durmstrang Institute, waiting for dinner to start. The Hall was a big room filled with rows of long tables made of dark wood, too formal-looking in her opinion. She was sitting at the end like she always did, with her whole two friends. She wasn't very popular because most of the people in Durmstrang seemed like idiots to her. A lot of them liked the Dark Arts, and Marilyn hated it. Her friends were Tracy Brown and Amy Cazrie. Tracy would get hyper but still have some sense, while Amy was full of insane plots. Amy was always getting them into trouble and Tracy would get them out of it. Marilyn was sort of in the middle, with some plots but good excuses. She was quieter than her friends. Amy looked like her personality, with her bright, laughing blue eyes and very wavy brown hair. Tracy had straight black hair and dark brown eyes. Marilyn had dark brown hair that looked black, but she wished it was pure black. Her eyes were a very pale blue color.

"Promise to write tons over the summer," Amy said. It was tradition to promise, even though they all knew they would write anyway.

"I promise," Marilyn agreed.

"I'll write so many letters you won't have space to store them," laughed Tracy.

The headmaster said his speech and then dinner started. There was silence as the three friends stuffed their faces, being _very_ hungry. The food was really good, but it wasn't exactly a happy dinner. Anything at Durmstrang had gloom hanging over it, at least to Marilyn.

She didn't like quietness, so she asked, "Do either of you have any plans for the summer?"

They shrugged, and Tracy answered, "No. We should all get together or something, though."

Amy's eyes started glittering, and Marilyn could tell she was thinking up a new way to get them into trouble. "Yeah, we could visit Diagon Alley during the day and when we're there--"

She was cut off by a scream. "What was that?" everyone around them was asking. Marilyn and Tracy looked around curiously and worriedly, but Amy actually jumped out of her seat. "What's the matter?" Tracy asked in alarm. "It's probably just someone playing a trick."

"No, it's not," she said. Her face was white. Marilyn thought she was overreacting till she explained, "That might be Laurie." Laurie was Amy's sister. "She stayed behind in the dorm to finish packing." She started to run out of the Hall, but a teacher stopped her. Amy was replying, but she couldn't be heard from the table over the noise. She came rushing back and sat down, still jumpy. "They won't let me go look for her! It's 'cause they don't want me to get into danger or something. They say other teachers are looking for whoever screamed, but I wish they'd let me go too, just to see if Laurie's alright." She kept looking over in the direction of the scream. "That's not a prank. The teachers wouldn't be this careful if it was, and they'd know soon enough. And no one can keep up a good act that long." There had been a few more yells since the first one.

"Do you think it's You-Kn--" Tracy started to say, but Marilyn interrupted her.

"Shut up!" she said quietly. "Do you really want to upset her even more?" She nodded in Amy's direction.

But Amy had already heard. She was even paler, and she gasped loudly. "What if he's here? Laurie can't fight him, and the teachers won't be able to either."

The headmaster said very loudly over the talking, "All students go back to your dormitories. Students in Dormitory Number Nine will stay here. Teachers go to Dormitory Number Nine, and have your wands ready."

These words frightened Amy even more. "Laurie's in Dorm Nine! I knew it, he's here." She would have kept muttering nervously if Marilyn and Tracy hadn't dragged her back to their dormitory, the eighth. All the dormitories were spread out over the school, so they weren't very near the ninth. They couldn't hear the yells anymore, either because of the distance or something causing them to stop.

"Let's go to the dorm," Amy persisted. Tracy opened her mouth to argue, but Amy continued, "Please. I really need to know what's happening. Maybe it's not You-Know-Who, which means we probably wouldn't get hurt." She was usually an optimist about danger.

Tracy choked on her pumpkin juice (almost everyone had carried their still-full plates and goblets with them and was nervously finishing eating). "Yeah, if it's some dangerous creature, we'll be _perfectly_ safe."

"Hey, it's better than _him_," said Amy, sounding offended. Still she went on trying to convince them. "If he was here, the teachers would have told us. They know there're some people here who want to get into danger just for excitement."

"Like you?" Tracy interrupted, meaning on normal days of course, since this time wouldn't be for excitement. Marilyn wasn't saying anything, partly because it wasn't _her_ sister in danger and partly because she privately agreed with Amy but didn't want to offend Tracy by taking sides.

Amy still wasn't giving up. She probably never would. "Come on, let's just go see. We know how to Stun and do some curses. We're not totally defenseless."

"I'll come," Marilyn finally said, not looking at Tracy.

"Fine, gang up on me," Tracy growled. Normally she wouldn't get this angry, even though she did get in some bad fights with Amy. She was nervous, and nervousness made her crabby. She was planning on sitting stubbornly in her chair and hoping the others wouldn't go without her. Then she saw that they were already halfway to the door. She groaned and followed, calling after them, "By the way, there'll be teachers all over the Ninth Dorm. We'll definitely get caught and in even more trouble than normal since they've warned us it's dangerous there."

Marilyn turned right around to face her. She was reddening with anger by now. "You care about rules and getting detentions when Amy's _sister_ is almost certainly in danger?" she asked in disbelief. Before Tracy could answer back she spun around and ran to catch up with Amy. Tracy hesitated then followed.

They came to the entrance of the Ninth Dorm and saw nothing. As they had gotten closer they could hear the shouts, bangs, and thuds. Now, peeking in the door, they could also hear the whoosh of curses flying through the air. No one was in the main room, but there were tons of side rooms branching off. They hurried across the room to one of these and paused again. Here the fight was going on.

Witches and wizards in black robes and masks were sending green light at the teachers, who had to use every spell known to them to defend themselves. Amy was looking around like crazy but didn't see Laurie anywhere. She led her two friends quickly past the fight to another side room. It was the same. They searched four more (some with fighting, some deserted) before Amy whispered tensely, "There's Laurie!"

Laurie was on the floor by the wall, either Stunned or unconscious from curses. This room was empty except for her. Amy ran over before Marilyn and Tracy could stop her. She pulled out her wand and was about to say the countercurse for Stunning when a jet of green light shot towards her back. Marilyn quickly said, "_Protego_," as she lifted her own wand. The green ricocheted off and hit the wall, leaving a small crater. She joined Amy so her Shield Charms could protect both of them easier. Tracy looked torn but joined after a small pause.

No more green light came towards them. Either it had been a misaimed curse or whoever had sent it had gotten distracted. Amy had time now to help Laurie. She whispered the spell, not wanting to give themselves away. Laurie twitched a little but didn't wake up. Amy looked about to panic, and Marilyn, noticing this, tried to calm her down. "She'll be okay as long as no more spells hit her. She's alive because she twitched, and the teachers will be able to help her. Don't worry. Let's just keep any curses away from her."

Amy nodded and faced away from Laurie to watch for curses. Marilyn and Tracy were also watching. Now some of the fighting had moved out into the main room. It was really creepy to watch the fight and know that at any time someone might see them and send the green light, which Marilyn strongly suspected was _Avada Kedavra_. She had heard about it and knew there was no way to block it. But the one curse had bounced off the Shield Charm, and _Avada Kedavra_ wouldn't. Maybe it was some new type of curse. The Death Eaters were always coming up with new ways of killing people.

Suddenly everything changed. The masked people were Disapparating with popping noises. The teachers, though worn out, looked relieved. Soon all the masked guys were gone. Teachers walked around all over, checking for anyone who was hurt.

"Cazrie! Eastrin! Brown!"

They all jumped. A teacher was standing right in front of them, looking furious. "You were told to go back to your dormitories! None of you are in this one, and even if you were you would be in the Hall. What do you think you're doing? You could have easily been killed!"

Amy didn't look at all ashamed. Instead, she said, "I knew my sister Laurie stayed in this dorm and hadn't come to dinner, so I had to see if she was okay." She looked back at Laurie, still on the ground. "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"No. She will go to the hospital wing with everyone else who has been hurt badly, like you could have been," she answered, still looking just as angry. "Are you all okay?" she demanded.

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"Good. Then go back to your dormitories." She saw them about to ask questions. "_Now_." They shut their mouths and left.

The next morning at breakfast, the headmaster stood up. Everyone went much quieter than usual, anxious to hear what happened. "Last night, You-Know-Who and some Death Eaters were here." Whispering filled the Hall. "You-Know-Who left before we got there, but we have been told he was here. Only the Death Eaters remained when the teachers arrived. Soon after, they Disapparated. None are left now. No one was killed, and only a few people were seriously injured. They are currently in the hospital wing and will stay there until they're fully recovered. Most will be able to go home with the rest of you." He paused. "However, there are concerns that You-Know-Who will return. Until we can know if he will or not, Durmstrang will close." There was even louder whispering as all the students wondered where they would go next year. The answer came a moment later: "All students will transfer to other schools for young witches and wizards. They will be sending out acceptance letters over the summer to everyone they consider a good addition to their school." He finished up by assuring them that everyone would be accepted to a school, and then breakfast started.

"I hope we're all accepted to the same school," Marilyn said sadly. She didn't like the idea of having to make all new friends and never seeing her old ones.

"Fat chance," Amy grumbled. Since the last night she had been acting depressed, with good reason.

Tracy sighed. "At least we can still write…"

"Yeah, that'll help a lot. Stupid letters the whole year long," Amy snapped. A few seconds later she said softly, "Sorry."

"That's okay," Tracy said, understanding that Amy would be in a bad mood for a while.

"Right when we get our acceptance letters we should tell each other," Marilyn suggested. She was replied by nods.

They finished breakfast in gloomy silence. It was then time to go. They got their trunks and went outside with everyone else. As usual, a dark ship was waiting for them, floating on a lake in the school grounds. There was chaos as people tried to find their friends. Marilyn, Tracy, and Amy went to the back. A suction-like noise announced the beginning of the trip home. Water came up past the windows as they sank, and soon they were beneath the light and couldn't see outside.

The trip seemed even longer than normal because they weren't doing any pranks. Normally they would, but they thought this wasn't exactly the time.

After what seemed like ages, light returned outside the windows. In a few minutes the water went down too, and they could see the surface of this new lake and the surroundings. There was a huge, bright green field, with small bushes and trees dotting it. The grass swayed in the calm wind. The sky was gray, and small raindrops were falling, getting gradually bigger and faster. Soon it was a downpour.

The ship stopped rising and there was a thud as a ramp was lowered onto the shore. Marilyn didn't want to leave, but she had to. She went up with Amy and Tracy to open air. They walked slowly down the ramp and stepped off onto the grass. Marilyn stopped before they reached where their parents were waiting to take them home.

"See you guys," she said glumly.

"See you," Tracy repeated.

"Bye," said Amy, in the saddest voice of all of them. She was obviously dreading retuning home without her sister. Laurie was still in the hospital wing, and her parents would have to come get her when she was better.

Marilyn walked off to where her parents were waiting. She greeted them with a worse mood than usual.

A month later, Marilyn was still waiting for her letter. Both Tracy and Amy had already been accepted to schools, Tracy to one in Spain and Amy to one in France. (In Amy's letter she had said Laurie had come home by then and was just fine.) Marilyn wasn't sure where to hope she was accepted to.

One morning, a letter was left on the table. It was addressed to her. She opened it quickly.

_Dear Miss Eastrin,_

_You have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Term begins on September 1. A list of the books and equipment you will need is included in this letter. Please send your answer by owl July 31 or earlier._

_Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Deputy headmistress_

**A/N: The school Amy is accepted to in France isn't Beauxbatons. I made it up. My excuse is that it's less well-known than Beauxbatons. Hey have you seen that pronunciation guide that says to say it BO-ba-ton or something? Hehe. Oh yeah, and I also changed the letter just cause I don't feel like copying it exactly. I used the same stuff though.**

**Wow when I was proofreading this it sounds exactly like Harry, Ron, and Hermione (MarilynHarry, AmyRon, TracyHermione). :(. I promise I didn't mean to, and hopefully it doesn't sound like that to everyone. Next chapter sometime, once I fix it to match the prologue.**


	2. The Kneazle

**Chapter Two – The Kneazle**

**A/N: So, what's this, the fifth time I've written Chapter Two? Oh well. Oh yeah I changed the Prologue to Chapter One cause with the plot change it makes more sense.**

**Reviewers:**

**Kalista Turner – Thanks for not being lazy! Yahoo it actually "kinda" makes sense to someone! Is it the same headmaster at both times? Guess so, it's only 22 years till the 4th book. Sorry, they don't go to Hogwarts till next chapter… I think.**

**Mini Mischief – Yay you read it too:D**

**Disclaimer: All HP stuff is J.K. Rowling's. That's why she's the famous one, not me.**

There was a month and a half left in summer. Marilyn was impatient to get to Hogwarts and see if it was as good as she'd heard, but she was finding things to keep her busy. Tracy, Amy, and her were planning to get together and hang out for a while before they went to different schools. On Saturday they would meet at Diagon Alley, and from there they had permission to go to whoever's house they wanted.

Marilyn stood in front of the fireplace, holding a bit of Floo powder and her trunk. She stepped into the fireplace (luckily it was tall enough so she wouldn't hit her head). Dropping the powder made green flames spring up. "The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley," she said loudly and clearly.

With a whooshing and turning, she fell out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. Amy and Tracy were already waiting beside the fire.

"Hi!" she greeted them cheerfully.

"Hey," Amy said. Marilyn noticed she seemed back in her old happy mood.

"How're you doing?" Tracy asked.

"Fine. I'm a little nervous about going to Hogwarts, but not too bad. You?"

Tracy sighed. "I'm pretty nervous. I like making friends but it's nice to start out knowing someone too."

"You'll do fine," Amy said encouragingly. "I'm really excited about going to Ash Lake." Her new school was named after Ash Lake in France. "What's the name of your school again?"

"Orstha. It's a small school, but it sounds good." Tracy grinned. "So, where should we go first?"

"That Quidditch store?" Marilyn suggested.

"Magical Menagerie?" Amy said. "I have a few questions about my owl."

"That works," Marilyn agreed.

They headed off towards the Magical Menagerie, talking along the way. When they got there they saw that there were only a few people standing outside and none inside. They would have ignored the people, but Marilyn thought she heard a meow from there and looked over. A huge orange tabby cat was sitting by the wall, and the people were standing around it. One boy was holding a firework. Marilyn paused and caught a bit of their conversation.

"People should keep their cats inside. They're annoying, running all over the place and getting in our way," another boy was saying.

"Yeah, and they don't do any good when they're out either," a girl added.

"They don't do any good outside _or_ inside," the boy corrected.

"I think a little shock might keep it out of our way. Anyone want to help with the firework?" the firework-boy said meanly.

Boiling with anger, Marilyn nudged her two friends and nodded toward the people. When they saw what was going on they looked just as angry. The boy was about to light off a firework to scare the cat.

"_Reducto_," Marilyn said quietly. Her spell hit the firework and dissolved it to dust.

"_Locomotor Mortis_," Amy said. The boy's legs locked together and he tripped.

"_Petrificus Totalus_," said Tracy, making the other boy stiff and unable to move at all. He fell over too. She whispered something else and the girl's legs became shaky. She couldn't walk and had to sit down so she wouldn't fall.

They cast Stupefy on all of them. "What now?" Tracy asked.

Marilyn ignored that, still in a rage. "I don't believe those jerks! They deserve much worse curses than what we gave them!" She would have used every curse known on them if Tracy hadn't grabbed her wand in prevention.

"You can't do it when they're already Stunned. Anyway, someone will find them like this and they'll have to explain what happened. We can tell the Magical Menagerie too. I'm sure they'll take care of it. That was really stupid of these people to do that in front of an animal store," Tracy said with satisfaction.

"What do we do with the cat? Do you think he escaped from somewhere?" Amy asked.

"Let's ask in here," Marilyn said, walking toward the door of the shop. The cat followed them. "Excuse me," she said to the lady behind the counter. "We found this cat outside, do you know if he belongs to anyone? And just to let you know, those kids out there were planning to scare the cat."

"That's mean of them. Don't worry, I'll get them in trouble for it. But he's a Kneazle, not a cat. See his tufted tail? His name's Trouble (but don't be scared off by that, he's really sweet), and he belongs to this store. I think he likes you though. Would you like a pet?" the lady asked kindly.

Marilyn hesitated, then said, "Well, I would, but I'm going to Hogwarts soon and I don't know if they allow Kneazles. And I've heard I'd need a license to have a Kneazle."

"Don't worry about that. In the past a few students at Hogwarts have had Kneazles, and they count as cats. For the license, I can talk to the Ministry of Magic and get you one easily. For now you would be able to keep Trouble."

"Awesome!" Marilyn said excitedly. Her parents had already said she could have a pet if she wanted, as long as she took care of it herself. To Amy and Tracy she said, "Do you two want to keep him or want me to?"

Amy sighed. "I would, but I've got an owl."

"I have a dog at home, and my parents say we don't have time for another animal," Tracy agreed.

"Okay then, I'm happy to keep him. Thank you!" Marilyn said. She crouched down to the ground and began petting Trouble. He purred. She tested picking him up, and he was fine with it. _He's a cool animal,_ she thought.

While Marilyn pet the Kneazle, Amy asked her questions about her owl. It turned our the owl was fine. They left, Marilyn carrying Trouble.

"Well congratulations on your new pet!" Amy smiled.

"You already love him, don't you?" Tracy knew how much she liked animals.

"Yep! Come on, I don't think he'll mind coming around with us. Where to?"

They traveled all over Diagon Alley, looking in all the fun shops and ignoring the school-supply ones. At noon they stopped at a café for lunch. Trouble was very happy following them around and getting the chance to explore. They had to stop every few minutes to get him out of something though.

Within a week Marilyn had received a letter saying she had permission to keep the Kneazle. Her agreement was to not let any Muggles see him, which would be easy for her. Now she just had to wait for the start of Hogwarts.

**Thank Mini Mischief, she gave me the idea for them rescuing a Kneazle when I was stuck. I'll be stuck for a while, trying to think of time-fillers. Sorry this took me so long to update. I'll try to be faster in the future.**


	3. Trains and Hats

**CHAPTER THREE – TRAINS AND HATS**

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long. I've been a little busy…. Summer's not supposed to be busy! HELP! And I've been writing non-fanfic stories, and I've been stuck on this one, so… here it finally is!

Reviews:

Mini Mischief – Yeah, that's where I got the name. :D 

**borriscaz – Thanks:) You're the first person to come across my story without me telling you to read it! I'll check out your story again.**

The rest of the summer passed in an impatient blur. Soon it was September first, the day Marilyn would go to Hogwarts. She arrived early for the train. She said goodbyes to her parents, got on the train, found an empty compartment, and waited for the train to leave. Trouble curled up and went to sleep on the seat next to her. A few minutes before eleven, a redheaded girl came by and asked if she could sit there. Marilyn said yes, and they started talking. The girl's name was Lily Evans, and she was a fourth-year Gryffindor. Marilyn told her about Durmstrang closing and that she didn't know anything about Hogwarts yet. She also asked what Gryffindor meant.

"There are four Houses. Gryffindor's supposed to be for people with courage, Ravenclaw's for intelligent people, Hufflepuffs value loyalty and fairness, and Slytherins are arrogant idiots who think only purebloods matter," she explained. "Most of the Houses get along okay, but no one likes the Slytherins and they don't like anyone else. Have you been told what House you're in yet?"

"No, I didn't even know there were Houses," Marilyn said, feeling very clueless.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure they'll be sorting you soon, probably tonight. I hope you're in Gryffindor."

"Uh, thanks." She didn't consider herself very brave though, especially not right then. "What's Hogwarts like?"

Lily went off on a long description, mostly saying Hogwarts was wonderful. The Quidditch teams sounded awesome to Marilyn, even though Lily said people acted like it was much more than it was. She said most people were nice, but it was clear she hated someone called James Potter. Classes sounded tough but not horrible. Lily told Marilyn that in third year everyone had picked new classes, but she wasn't sure how the teachers would deal with Marilyn's schedule. Through the whole thing Marilyn was thinking Hogwarts sounded a lot better than Durmstrang, and wishing her parents had sent her to Hogwarts in first year.

About halfway to Hogwarts, another former Durmstrang student came in. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," Marilyn repeated. The girl was Georgia Laskreth. They had never exactly been friends, but not enemies either. Marilyn did the introductions.

The three of them chatted for the rest of the ride. At one point the conversation turned to Quidditch, which Marilyn was enjoying, but when they noticed Lily getting bored they switched to something else. Trouble caused a slight interruption as he stole a leftover Cauldron Cake from lunch and went running off with it. Once Marilyn caught him, the ride continued normally.

When they got to the Hogsmeade Station, Evans showed Marilyn and Georgia the way to some carriages, which seemed to be unattached to anything that might pull them. One of Lily's friends joined them. She had dark blue eyes, opposite to her straight, dark-blond hair. She was a little tall, but not enough to make Marilyn feel like a shrimp.

"Where were you the whole ride? I didn't see you anywhere," the new girl told Lily as the carriage started to move.

"I was sitting with these two. They're new here," Lily replied. She said everyone's names. Her friend was Emily Vairsha.

"Nice meeting you, and I hope you like it here," Emily said happily. "Look, you can see Hogwarts now."

Marilyn and Georgia rushed to the window. A huge castle was just coming into view, lights shining cheerily from windows, towers black against the gray-blue sky. The road they were on went through the gates and right up to the front doors. They were passing through the gates now, and rattling their way up to the school.

Finally, the carriages stopped. Marilyn jumped out, closely followed by Georgia. They started hurrying up to the school with Lily and Emily, but a teacher stopped them.

"New students are to go to the left when you get inside the doors, and wait until you're sorted."

Marilyn nodded and said to her new friends, "See you, then," before following Georgia through the doors and into the room to the left. A few people were already waiting there, and a few more came after them. They all hung around nervously, till the same strict-looking teacher came in.

"Hello, I'm Professor McGonagall. In a few minutes you will be sorted, but I need to explain a few things first. The four Houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Each has its own qualities. Houses are like families while you are at Hogwarts. You can earn points for your House, or lose them by breaking rules. Now, follow me into the Great Hall, where you'll be sorted."

All the kids followed her in a line, heading for a huge room with five tables: four long ones with kids sitting at them, and one at the top of the Hall for teachers. The new students were led to the front, between the teachers' table and the rest of the students. A stool was in front of them, with a very old hat on it. A rip opened up and began to sing:

_Years ago, when Hogwarts was new,  
The four founders of this school  
Formed a House each  
Of students they would teach  
Gryffindor chose the brave ones  
Intelligence was what Ravenclaw loved  
Slytherin liked slyness best  
Hufflepuff was fair to the rest  
I will place you where you belong  
Don't be scared, I haven't been wrong_

The Hat became still once more. Professor McGonagall unrolled a list and said, "When I call your name, sit down and put on the Hat."

She began reading names, but Marilyn was too nervous to do anything but wait for her own name. She didn't feel exceptionally brave or intelligent, and she definitely didn't want to be in Slytherin. _Maybe Hufflepuff will accept me,_ she thought.

"Eastrin, Marilyn."

_Uh-oh. Oh no… oh no… oh no…_ she repeated in her head as she went up to the stool and sat down. She put on the Hat. A second later she jumped. The Hat had _talked!_

"Hmmm…" was all it said. _Brilliant opening statement,_ Marilyn thought. The Hat went on after only a short annoyed pause, "Just beginning Hogwarts?" Marilyn started to think, _How does it know?_ but partway through it started talking again, mumbling to itself. "Intelligent, definitely, maybe Ravenclaw… bravery – Gryffindor? Fair and loyal… Hufflepuff? No… Not Slytherin, of course…" After thirty seconds it asked, "If you could choose, which House would you be in?"

"Wha… um…" Marilyn stuttered, unprepared for that question. She had assumed it would make the decision, no opinions asked, but maybe it was making one last test. "I don't know really…. Gryffindor sounds awesome, of course, but I don't think I'm very brave…. Ravenclaw is good, and I'm not that bad in school, but I'm not great…. Hufflepuff would be fine…. Please don't put me in Slytherin, though. It sounds awful."

There was silence for a few seconds. Then the Hat decided, "Gryffindor."

Marilyn was glad it didn't just shout it out before telling her. This way she had time to find out the reasoning. She could tell the Hat was about to call out its decision, so she hurriedly interrupted, "Why'd you put me in Gryffindor? Really, I'm not brave, and you said in your song that courage was a quality of Gryffindor."

"So it is. You do have it, even though you might not realize it. It might even be a good sign you don't know it, or you might be too proud to be in anything but Slytherin. Gryffindor it is," it said with a very final tone. When Marilyn didn't argue, it shouted her House out.

Marilyn took off the Hat and rushed to the Gryffindor table. She joined Lily and Emily.

"Congratulations!" Lily said excitedly.

"Gryffindor's awesome, you'll love it here," Emily agreed.

Lily laughed. "Of course you say that, it's your own House!"

"So? It's true," Emily argued playfully. She seemed about to continue, but Lily cut her off.

"Shh, the Sorting's still going on."

"You were just talking too," Emily complained. Lily ignored her.

It felt like fifty people were sorted, even though it was only four, and then it was Georgia's turn. The Hat took a long time deciding for her too, but in the end it screamed, "Ravenclaw!"

"Why does it take so long on some people, and go so fast on some?" Marilyn asked no one in particular.

"The Slytherins are easy, 'cause it's obvious when someone's stupid enough to be that kind of person. The rest are a little harder, 'cause most people have more than one quality. So someone can be brave, intelligent, and fair, but the Hat has to decide what their strongest quality is," Emily explained.

The Sorting for everyone coming from Durmstrang was over, and the first-years came in. Marilyn watched as they went through the same process she'd gone through, waiting for their name, sitting on the stool, putting on the Hat, waiting for it to decide, taking off the Hat, and going to their tables. When there were no more first-years left to be sorted, McGonagall carried the Hat on the stool out of the Hall.

Dumbledore, the headmaster, stood up and began talking. "Welcome, old and new students. Speeches should wait until after feasts, so I won't keep you away from your food any longer." He sat back down.

"_Whoa!_" Marilyn gasped. The empty plates on the tables had suddenly filled with food – delicious food, and tons of it. She realized she was starving, and piled food on her plate. When the food was gone, dessert appeared in its place, and when that was gone, all the remaining bits and crumbs disappeared.

Dumbledore stood again, this time to make his speech. "There are a few things I have to tell you. Firstly, the dark forest is out of bounds to everyone. Secondly, Durmstrang closed at the end of last year, and we have a few new students transferring from there. I'm sure you will all make them feel welcome here. Thirdly, Quidditch try-outs will be on the fifteenth. Now, off to bed."

Everyone got up at once and headed for their dormitories. Marilyn followed Lily and Emily. "Are either of you on the Quidditch team?" she asked as they walked.

"I'm not," Lily said. It was obvious she didn't have any desire to be.

"I'm not either, but I wish I was," Emily said sadly. "Are you trying out this year?"

"Yeah, I think so," Marilyn decided.

Soon they came to a portrait. A prefect told them the password. The portrait swung outwards, and they climbed through the hole in the wall behind it. The Gryffindor common room was very comforting, with the fire crackling and throwing light on the armchairs and tables in front of it. The three of them went up a set of spiral stairs and came to their dormitory. Marilyn changed and fell asleep at once.

**A/N: How do you like/dislike it? Criticism is welcome, as long as you try to say it nice while still getting the point across.:) And yes, I know this chapter was mostly talk, but I don't want to leave out the getting used to Hogwarts stuff. By the way, all the stuff against Slytherins is coming from Slytherin-hating Gryffindors, so don't bother telling me not all Slytherins have to be evil ;). I know they don't have to be, they just are. Jk.  
****Next chapter's coming… when I get around to it. I'll try to hurry.**

P.S. Dang, I'm having troubles with bold, italic, and paragraph breaks again. I have no idea what goes wrong when I load it up, but if anything's a little odd that's why. 


	4. First Day

**A/N: Ugh... boring filler chapter. Well maybe not boring to read, I don't know, but really dull to write cause I want to get to the exciting parts ahead. Oh well. I promise it'll get better soon.**

**Reviews:**

**Kalista Turner - Yep classes now! Well I didn't write a whole lot about classes but Charms makes me laugh. Not saying any more now cause you can read it yourself! And yeah I've been lazy for ages cause I couldn't think up a good plot cause the old one was dumb, but now it's here beginning the new plot! YAY! "Wacky k" nice. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Paw Prints 747 - Yes puny Sorting Hat Song. But that was back when I could hardly rhyme two lines of a song (I've gotten better now... I think... lol) and it was hard to write. Oh, wait, I mean... yes, of course the Hat was running late and didn't have time to finish it...! Yes Sorting Hat begins singing "Oh you can search far and wide/You can drink the whole town dry/But you'll never find a beer so brown/As the one we drink in our hometown!" Hmm we should write a fanfic together about that huh?**

**You know what... I feel like I've replied to these already but I think that was just in my first version of this chapter... weird though.**

**Disclaimer: Hmm am I supposed to be doing a disclaimer every chapter? No idea but I forget half the time. You should all know it anyway... HP is written by J. K. Rowling. If I was the author do you really think I'd be hanging around writing fanfictions?

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**Chapter Four – First Day**

Marilyn woke up slowly, laying there for a while before finally accepting she couldn't go back to sleep and getting up. It was only six-thirty, but everyone else would be up in half an hour anyway. She headed down to the common room, meeting Trouble on the stairs. He followed her to the chairs in front of the fire, then flattened his eyes and growled slightly.

Surprised, Marilyn glanced at the Kneazle and then at the chairs, where she saw a girl staring into the fire. She had long, tightly curling black hair and hazel eyes.

"Hi," Marilyn said cheerfully.

The girl looked over, not at all surprised to see a big cat glaring at her. "Hey."

"Sorry my cat's being grumpy, he does that sometimes. Come on, Trouble." She scooped him up and set him down on a chair farther away. Once he decided to stay, Marilyn went back to the fire. "I'm new here, my name's Marilyn."

After a pause the girl replied, "Arabel."

Marilyn frowned, puzzled. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

She still thought Arabel looked really down, but she didn't say anything more. Instead she took a book out of her bag and began reading.

A few minutes after seven, Lily and Emily came downstairs, along with another girl Marilyn had been told was Rochelle Birchtree. Rochelle joined Arabel and they left, while the other three friends made their way more slowly down to breakfast.

At the end of breakfast Professor McGonagall passed out the class schedules. Marilyn looked over hers and saw that she had the two extra classes she'd signed up for—Ancient Runes and Defensive Spells. Lily and Emily both had Defensive Spells but not Ancient Runes. Marilyn had Runes first, so she headed to it by herself.

When she got there she saw Rochelle and Arabel there. "Hi!" she said, happy she knew someone in that class.

Rochelle returned the greeting energetically, but Arabel was the same way she'd been that morning. Class started then, so there wasn't too long of an awkward moment. Rochelle invited Marilyn to sit with them, and while Arabel didn't seem to mind she also didn't talk to them.

The class was fun, since Marilyn liked runes. She wasn't behind at all either, because she'd taken a runes class at Durmstrang too. The time passed quickly till the next class, Transfiguration, where the teacher Professor McGonagall seemed really strict, but the actual subject seemed okay.

Next came Charms, where they tried to learn a Summoning Charm. It was… interesting. Most people missed the pillows they were aiming for, but instead brought random things zooming across the room, including chairs and backpacks. By the end of class Lily had mastered it, and Marilyn could get something halfway to her. Emily was having trouble making the pillows fly directly to her—they kept wanting to knock a few people in the head before turning around to come to her.

"I think you were doing that on purpose," Marilyn jokingly accused. She had been knocked over a couple times by Emily's pillows.

They all could tell that Potions would be a dull class, but they might have fun seeing all the ways a potion could go wrong.

Defensive Spells was interesting, but the teacher was paranoid about being attacked by Death Eaters. Still, it's a useful class. It was a huge class because everyone was worried about Voldemort.

Rochelle walked away from dinner alone. She was worried about Arabel, who seemed exhausted even though it was only the second day of Hogwarts, and the first of classes.

Noticing Arabel walking a little ways ahead of her on the way to the common room, Rochelle caught up and said, "Hey, how's it going?"

Arabel shrugged.

"Okay… How 'bout a game of Exploding Snap?" she offered, trying to cheer her up.

Not even looking at her, Arabel answered, "No, I need to work on homework…"

"Oh… darn… What about afterwards?"

"Homework's gonna take a long time."

Rochelle sighed. "Alright. I'm going outside for a bit, see you."

"Bye."

_What's wrong with her? We were best friends last year, and now she's hardly talking to me,_ Rochelle thought confusedly as she strode outside to bring her mood up before doing homework.

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**A/N: Hello again! Yes I know Defensive Spells isn't a class during Harry's time but this is 1973, when Voldemort is in power and everyone knows it. So it'd make sense for them to have a class focusing on defense, right? Well I hope next chapter I can get into the big plotline. And yeah I kinda skipped over some of the classes, but who wants to read about a teacher talking on and on? We've gotten more than enough of that in school! Review please and I might update quicker :D !**


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